California health report card shows lower rates for most diseases

Stephanie O'Neill

Audio from this story

Share

California is reporting statewide improvements in key public health measures, including rates for many chronic diseases, sexually-transmitted infections, motor vehicle crashes and accidental deaths, according to the County Health Status Profiles 2013 report released today.

Overall, the 20th annual report shows a statewide drop in the rate of most illnesses, including all cancers, heart disease, stroke and diabetes from 2009-2011, compared with 2006-2008. Also down were deaths from homicides, motor vehicle crashes and those from unintentional causes – including drug overdoses. The number of AIDS and gonorrhea cases also fell.

At the same time, however, California recorded an increase in deaths from Alzheimer’s disease, and a slight uptick in the number of deaths from suicide and chronic liver disease. Incidents of the sexually-transmitted infection, Chlamydia, also climbed statewide.

This year’s nearly 100-page report was the first to compare state public health markers to national public health goals set by the federal government in its three-year-old Healthy People 2020 campaign.

While California met and exceeded many of the national goals - including those for reducing deaths from cancer, homicide and motor vehicle crashes - it fell below them in several other areas. Among them: the number of deaths caused by female breast cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease and stroke.